Time
by CharmingDuckDevil
Summary: She was going home. Only this time it was for real. "I-InuYasha?" InuxKag


**Time**

* * *

It was time.

It wasn't just a feeling in the air that it would come soon. It was really happening.

Kagome was going home through the well.

This time to stay.

There was no use for her anymore. Since Narakus demise she had constantly tried to find something in the fudal era, some miko-duty or some evil demon that had to be destroyed. But there was nothing left. She felt like the world she had come to know and love was screaming at her to 'get the hell outta there!'.

Though her friends were screaming the quite opposite.

Sango and her had been standing for what seemed like hours hugging and whispering comforting words in their ears with tears streaming down their faces. She pleaded her to stay, that nothing would be the same without her. Kagome just said she would miss them too, but not without uttering a powerful sob in the process. The monk, who this time was smart enough _not_ to try anything, had also been enveloped in a tight hug with the departing miko, uttering the same arguments for her to stay with traces of tears visible in his eyes. She told him that she loved them all, and that she would never forget them. Shippô had hugged her to the point she thought she would turn blue, while he had been crying rivers, desperately clinging onto her stating that she _shouldn't_, _couldn't_ go home. And then she said to the young kit that she didn't belong there.

That she belonged elsewhere.

Away from _him._

He'd been hiding in the thick bushes and trees around the outskirts of the village where the departing drama had taken place. His familiar mask of though-ness and don't-mess-with-me-ness on his handsome face was wavering. And he knew it.

But this time, unlike many other times, he let it be. Because, dammit, she was actually _leaving._ And not to stock up on the supply of ramen or another 'skuul-test' as she called it.

This time was for real.

Suddenly, he was filled with anger. Hadn't she promised to stay by his side? _Until the search for the shards were over, dummy, _his subconscious said in a gloomy voice inside his head. The anger dropped and so did the ears on top of his head.

There was no way he could have prepared himself for this. What the hell was he supposed to do when she was gone? In his entire lifetime, he had always had something to do. When his mother was still alive, it was to keep her safe. After that, it was to keep himself safe. When Kikyo had come into his life, most of his problems seemed to be solved. But that was soon to be crushed down to dirt when the "betrayal" happened. Then, after being stuck to a tree for 50 years, _she _was just... there.

Kagome.

She was there, and he'd been sure, _completely sure_, that she was there to stay.

But no.

She was leaving him, just like everybody else.

He looked up again and saw that she was finishing up with their traveling companions, saying her last goodbyes. With her worn-out yellow bag thrown over her right shoulder, she began walking towards the well. The tears in her eyes were still evident.

InuYasha jumped up into a nearby tree, his glued eyesight on her never wavering. He leaped from branch to branch, following her downcast form. Her steps were determined, firm, as if she had just summoned up enough courage to jump down the well again.

It wasn't a long walk to the ancient well. She stopped and stared into the dark depths of it for a few seconds before dropping the backpack just beside her ticket to her own time. Her back was turned to him, so he couldn't see her beautiful face. He desperately needed to do so, at least one last time.

"InuYasha?" He stiffened. Had she heard him follow her? Was she mad because of it?

"I know you're there, you don't need to hide." she continued. Only after a few seconds he hoped down from the tree and slowly began walking towards her. His eyes were at his bare feet, arms folded.

He stopped about two meters from her and she turned around just as he lifted his gaze.

Their eyes locked.

When he looked into those beautiful stormy blue eyes he had to restrain himself hard not to dart forward, take her into his arms and _beg _her not to leave him. He gulped. The look on her face was unreadable, though her eyes glistened with new tears.

His eyes began to sting. He swallowed again, trying to force down the building lump in his throat. He was _not _ going to cry. He was her protector, the one that kept her safe. If there was someone he absolutely _couldn't _cry in front of, it was her.

His pride got the best of him and he looked down at the green grass brushing against his feet. He heard her sigh.

He closed his eyes. He just wanted to disappear. Just wanted to lay down and die. What was the point of living when the one thing in your life you loved over all things was leaving you?

In the beginning he had hated her. Hated her for looking so much like her incarnation, hating her for not giving him the _damned_ jewel, hating her for her unnecessary 'osuwaris', and most of all, hating her for making him feel all warm inside with her _stupid_ smile.

When they eventually met their other traveling partners, she had showed him that it actually wasn't so bad, having friends. But of course he never really _called _them his friends. Out loud.

She had showed him that there were things that were worth caring about, she showed him a reason to finally smile without a care or reason.

She made him laugh. She made him cry. She made him want to rip his hair out. She made him want to kiss her senseless.

She made him feel things he never felt before.

She had succeeded in making him fall deeply and oh-so-helplessly in love with her.

He was so lost in his thoughts, he hadn't seen her slowly walking forward to him with a sad look on her face. She now stood inches away from him and he still didn't seem to notice.

She stifled a sob but one lone tear still slipped through her eyelids. That caught his attention.

One look in his pained golden eyes and she gave into her heart. She threw her arms around his neck and buried her face in his fire-rat clad chest, trying hard not to cry harder than she already did.

InuYasha was startled to say in the least. For a few seconds he just stood there, a pink hue slowly spreading over his nose and cheeks. But those seconds passed quickly and he put his strong arms around her.

He burrowed his nose into her hair and breathed in, savouring in the moment. He tried to imprint her wonderful scent in his mind, because this was, he realised, the last time he got to do so.

He held her tightly against him, and so did she, neither of them ever wanting to let go.

Would it hurt, InuYasha began thinking, if he just told her? Told her those three words, since she was going away either way? He knew he couldn't change her mind, no matter what he said. Maybe it would at least bring a big weight off his shoulders. Maybe he could at least live at peace, knowing that she knew.

But would he be able to do it? Did he really have that much courage?

He almost hit himself. He could dive into a cloud of miasma, ready to fight his greatest and strongest enemy without a blink, but he gravely questioned himself for saying three simple words. He was pathetic. What was there to be afraid of?

_Rejection,_ that little damn voice in his head chimed.

As much as he didn't want to admit it, the voice was right. What if those words slipped through his lips and she ended up hurling herself into the well? Or worse, what if she looked at him with pity in her eyes.

He wouldn't be able to stand it.

"I-InuYasha?" A soft but crackling voice broke his thoughts.

He inhaled sharply. "Y-Yeah?" Damn, his voice crackled too.

She took a deep, shaky breath before speaking;

"I love you."

InuYasha forgot how to breathe. His whole world had seemed to take a sharp stop.

Did she just...?

He didn't even have time to finish his thoughts before she quickly jerked herself out of his arms, hauled her backpack over her shoulder and jumped down the well.

InuYasha got to his senses on a millisecond when he saw her retreat to the wooden structure and sprang after her. "Kagome!"

He didn't even think when he hauled himself after her in the beginnings of a blue-ish light, he was only praying that he _wasn't too late._

She floated below him for only a few short seconds before fading with the light. "No." the whisper passed his lips.

He landed at the bottom of the well. No Kagome.

He started to punch and dig the dirt bellow him. "Let me through!" he screamed repeatedly.

"Kagome! KAGOME!" he started to yell in despair.

He finally collapsed on the dirt, panting heavily.

He lost. He lost her.

"_I love you too, Kagome..."_

A small tear slipped through his eyelid.

"_So much..."_

* * *

***sniff* Why the *sob* hell did I write that? *sniffle* I almost made myself cry... **

**...okey, mabye it was a little OOC but... still... :P**

***dries tears* Awlright, so this can be a One-Shot if you would like it to stay that way, but I have a small idea about how I could continue it... buuuuuut, it's all up to your reviews! **

**Sooo? Didja like it? Please tell if you did! **

**/cHARMINGdUCKdEVIL **

**fUCKING cAPSlOCK!**

**/CharmingDuckDevil **

**Pew...**


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